From Galileo to Gates, independent thinkers have pushed societies beyond their comfortable borders. Today's technology affords us even more means to explore. But our school systems, sports arenas, businesses, and even lifestyles have become so goal-specific that creativity is being sacrificed. We are at risk of raising a generation of kids who can competently navigate achievement tests, but lack the skills and experience for thinking out of the box.

Play, from toddler toys to adult gaming, has become such a serious activity that the idea of free play — play for the pure fun of it — has gone the way of stickball and paper dolls. In an honest attempt to make our kids smarter, faster, earlier, parents, educators, toy manufacturers, and legislators are unwittingly squeezing the fun out of childhood. Our kids are becoming like the virtual pets they carry in their pockets: predictably responding to preset stimuli. Independent, creative thinking has no place in their time-pressed, goal-oriented world.  We believe that free play is a critical component in raising open-minded thinkers.

Today's kids live in a world full of chips, buttons, bells and whistles. They log on before they can walk, and blog before they can run. Preschoolers tune in to MP3s; Tweens clique in to Facebook. Afterschool playgrounds are virtual; imaginary friends are oh so real. The Sandbox Summit: A Playdate with Technology, a first-ever event to be held at the 2008 International CES (Consumer Electronics Show), will examine the way kids play in this new digital world and showcase the latest high-tech toys and media that they're using.

The highlight of the Sandbox Summit will be an eye-opening conference that looks at the lives of high-tech kids and the toys, trends and ideas that shape their world. Author and journalist (and Parents' Choice newest reviewer) Lisa Guernsey will moderate an inspiring panel discussion titled The New Frontier of Play. Speakers and panel members include YPulse founder Anastasia Goodstein, New York Times journalist Michelle Slatalla, Children's Technology Review editor Warren Buckleitner, Ph.D, tech reporter and Columbia Journalism School professor and dean of students Sree Sreenivasan, and more!

The Sandbox Summit, produced by Parents' Choice Foundation and CES, will be the first major event devoted exclusively to kids' play and technology products at this convention. Parents' Choice Foundation president Claire Green, digital kids expert Robin Raskin, and toy authority Wendy Smolen have teamed up to create this event.

Please visit the Sandbox Summit website to learn more >>